The present disclosure is directed to a system for reducing water scaling in a system with flowing water. Water normally obtained from practically every source is loaded with dissolved salts which form scale deposits under certain circumstances. The collection of water scale is more or less related to the amount of hardness in the water. Water becomes hard as the dissolved salt content increases. The most common sources of hard water are water accumulated in lakes or from artesian wells. Typically, lake water carries a higher level of hardness in the water, but artesian water is not exempt from the problem. The problem derives from dissolved salts and mostly calcium salts carried in the water. As the water flows over limestone formations, it will carry away a part of the limestone in the form of dissolved rock salts which are most commonly CaCO2. Not only are calcium salts commonly encountered, magnesium salts also occur. All of the various salts encountered in water flow in nature create the risk of dissolving the salts into the flowing stream, accumulating in a lake, and ultimately forming water scale deposits when flowing in a metal pipe. The extreme of this is seen in the Dead Sea and the great Salt Lake in Utah. There, the water flows into a basin and cannot escape except through evaporation. The lakes become highly mineralized and are therefore so laden with salt accumulation that they are, for all practical purposes, poisonous to plant life. When that water is used, obviously for purposes other than cooking or drinking, the water tends to leave a deposit which builds up so that flowing water engenders the risk of scaling. The problem of scaling varies with the region which depends on the geology of the region. In the Panhandle of Texas, flowing water carries a very large amount of dissolved minerals in it. It is not uncommon for the water minerals to accumulate on the metal surfaces of pipes downstream from the water source and ultimately reduce the effective cross-sectional area of the pipes. The tendency to come out of solution and form a deposit is dependent on many factors including concentration, water temperature, flow velocity, turbulence, and the roughness of the surface. Even where the surface is extremely smooth when initially installed, once a thin layer of deposited scale is formed, the growth can increase rapidly as the scale builds up. As a generalization, this requires expensive steps to remove and clear the passage. It is especially a problem in equipment where the volume of highly mineralized water is significant. That problem is most often seen in systems where there is recirculation such as cooling systems or heating systems using water. Untreated water and even water which has been treated in an economical way will nevertheless build up large amounts of scale. It is probably a very chronic problem in closed flow loops in heating and air conditioning systems. There is also a great difficulty in stationary border plants and the like.
In solution, the dissolved salts are best considered in an ionic state. Thus, the limestone rock deposits may have some calcium CaCO2 along with other salts. When dissolved, the ionic disassociation simply scatters, in a random distribution in the stream of water, the constituents. Accordingly, a flowing stream of water will include any number of cations and anions flowing in the stream. The cations and anions are the material ultimately forming a deposit downstream which is characterized by the more common ions in the stream. It is not uncommon to build up a scale deposit which becomes hard over time as the dissolved minerals are plated onto a surface which will hold and accumulate the deposits. Therefore, this prompts the accumulation of substantial amounts of deposited material so that the hardness restricts flow, interferes with heat transfer, and is a cumulative detrimental problem.
In this systems an apparatus is installed in the flowing water which functions as a pipe, thereby making up part of the plumbing system. The pipe component is made of metal. In this aspect, the first metal is the metal in contact with the flowing water. The pipe supports, on the interior, a second metal which is spaced from the first metal, thereby defining first and second metal surfaces where the two metal surfaces are different in electrochemical activity. The electrochemical activity of metals range from one extreme for platinum, gold and silver to the other extreme for aluminum. Ranking of the metals is believed well known in this aspect. In a flowing water stream, the two metals define separated metal surfaces. The flowing water, in cooperation with the different metals, forms an electrolytic cell. The potential difference between the two metals is well known from the table of relative activities of the various metals. This creates a current flow between the two metals. The, current flow is from metal to metal, hence, across the flowing water. The current flow generally is resisted by the water because water is a relatively good insulator (referring to pure water). The impurities in the water, however, and especially the dissolved minerals, provide ionic carriers for charge interchange between the metal surfaces. This charge interchange is accomplished by migration between the two metal surfaces. The ionic current flow is significant in that the dissolved minerals tend to collect at the metal surfaces. There will be a preference at one surface or the other dependent on the electrolytic activity of the two metals with respect to each other. There will be a tendency of ions to be neutralized. This neutralization results in formation of a soft deposit in the region. In other words, the current transfer mechanism changes the binding forces involved in depositing the dissolved mineral ions at one of the metal surfaces so that plating is accomplished, yet with a reduction in hardness.
Consider a worse case description. A water system installed in the Texas Panhandle for transfer of water accumulated from rain runoff is extremely mineralized and can form deposits in metal pipes which have a hardness approaching that of sheet rock. It also has a consistency in color approximating that of sheet rock. Vigorous effort is required to clean the pipe. The present apparatus sets out a system in which a softer form of scaling occurs, and just as importantly, the scaling which does occur is localized easily on the surface of the present invention.
This system incorporates a bimetal cell which is self-powered. By that, no electrical power is required from the exterior. It makes its own electrical current, and that current is defused as it flows through the water between the two metal surfaces so that the defused flow forms a defused distribution of deposits on one of the metal surfaces. The deposits are cumulative. However, deposits have reduced hardness and are mechanically removed more readily. The present apparatus, when installed in a flowing stream, reduces the mineral hardness downstream. The deposits resultant from hard water are likewise reduced downstream. This is true in a variety of circumstances. For instance, the downstream device may be a water recirculation system for transfer of heat. In that system, there will be a cooler region and a hotter region. One example of this is a cooling system for an air conditioning plant. Another example of this is a boiler system where the water is heated in a nest of pipes in a boiler to convert into steam and is recycled by condensing the spent steam. Of course, where steam is lost, there will be a modest flow of water added to make up the total feed. Suffice it to say, many other examples can be identified in which water scale is a serious problem, and especially serious in a closed flow loop of the type just mentioned. The present invention sets forth a mechanism which significantly changes the plating mechanism and also reduces the amount of scale accumulated downstream.
The present apparatus is therefore summarized as a fitting which is installed to be electrochemically active in a flowing water stream. The water is delivered into and out of the fitting by an installed elongate sleeve having an inside metal surface, that being the first metal. There is a radially spaced metal surface on the interior that is electrically insulated from the first metal surface. The second metal surface in conjunction with the first defines an electrolytic cell. Water is directed through the cell and sets up current flow through the metal components. The system also incorporates a set of fittings which enable it to be assembled in a plumbing system and disassembled for easy servicing.